15 Sep LISTEN Testimonials – Veronica Aono
I joined LISTEN (local innovations scaled through enterprise networks) program in March 2019. It was by then known as BPI (Business process for impact) before it rebranded. I was invited to join as a member of the Community of Practice by my fellow youth who were identified to join the group by the BMU chairperson due to my interest in Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights ( SRHR) advocacy which I did voluntarily to the Adolescents and Young People (AYP) in the community. I started doing these talks with the AYP’s back in 2018 when I was working as a volunteer nutritionist at sena health center. Being a young mother, I had gone through the stress and pain of child birth and taking care of my child and I did not want for the young girls to experience the same until they are of age.
By joining the LISTEN process, I became more empowered and this led to me being more recognized due to the work I was doing for the community. Ever since I have been actively participating as a champion for AYP in mfangano island. I later got the privilege to be elected by the AYP’s as their team lead and formed a youth parliament to get to hear the challenges affecting as their speaker. I took up this role positively which has also boosted my respect and performance in the community and in 2020 among other youth I was privileged to be selected to attend a 5 days training on budget advocacy by AMREF health Africa. In 2021 as the AYP team lead I was privileged to attend a 5 days Human Centered Design (HCD) sensitization/training to join the LISTEN Innovation Community of Practice the technical working group for Homa Bay. Through this empowerment, I have been able to attend various conferences including the maisha youth conference where I was also privileged to be elected as the maisha youth secretary for Homa Bay chapter.
As a leader of the AYP team lead, we have been able to design, coordinate and implement a series of activities where we have managed to reach more than 5,000 young people in and out of school with HIV prevention information and teenage pregnancy prevention measures which we agreed on during our meetings and documented in our charter. Through our effort, we have seen more young people access HIV and other health related information and services on the islands which are hard to reach. Our members have also been able to access other non-health services such as education and economic opportunities.
With the adaptation of the HCD materials which were involved in the development, we can now reach out to other peers on our own. Therefore for me LISTEN process has greatly supported me and made me get connections to work for other organizations and it’s been quite a progressive journey.
Veronica Aono
AYP LISTEN Champion
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